Millions of rural residents have not seen a dentist in over a year, a recent CDC report reveals.

In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic forced dentists to shut down, 42 percent of adults in rural areas did not receive dental care, according to the survey. In urban areas, roughly a third of adults did not see a dentist that year.

In both groups, people of color and low-income residents were less likely to have seen a dentist in 2019. These disparities were wider in rural areas, where issues such as transportation barriers, dentist and dental hygienist shortages and lack of health insurance are more common. The coronavirus pandemic has likely exacerbated the need, especially for low-income patients, the report says.

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The Massachusetts Oral HPV Task Force developed the first dental toolkit in 2016 to improve HPV knowledge at the dentist. Since then, it has been used in dental outreach across Massachusetts and has been successfully adapted in seven states. The toolkit has now been redesigned to reflect feedback from users and updated to provide the most up-to-date recommendations. It also includes internal training materials on how to recommend the HPV vaccine, as well as in-office communication materials.

Click here to access the free, downloadable toolkit.

Nicotine Free NWPA has partnered with the Pennsylvania Coalition for Oral Health (PCOH) to develop Integrating Nicotine Dependence Treatment with Oral Health: For Dental Professionals (INDTOH), a 1.2-hour tobacco and nicotine education training that provides a dental-specific follow-up course to the state’s own Every Smoker, Every Time (ESET) cessation training. INDTOH translates information presented in ESET into the oral health setting with focus on providing support and additional training in referring dental patients to cessation treatment programming, offering tools to empower oral health professionals to conduct effective cessation counseling, and informing dental clinicians how to bill for these services. Attendees will be presented data supporting the logic behind offering cessation services as a natural extension of oral and overall health for patients who use tobacco and nicotine products, as well as encouragement to consider systems change towards that end. All interested dental providers should take the ESET training first, which provides entry-level tobacco use-related education for health care professionals. It includes information on effective brief intervention, nicotine replacement therapy, and referral options.

The ESET training takes approximately 45 minutes. This training should be completed via self-study prior to moving on to the second INDTOH webinar. Dental licensees who complete both trainings can earn 2.0 free CEUs.

The PA Coalition for Oral Health (PCOH) is collecting stories from all 67 counties around dental issues in our state. We know that many people struggle to find dental care as a basic healthcare need, and we would like to help lend a voice to the changes needed in our system. Only 1 in 4 general dentists in PA accept Medicaid, and many of these are not accepting new patients, or their location requires people to travel for hours to get care. Your story can help us let decision-makers know that change is needed to protect the smiles of all Pennsylvanians. We will share these stories with the Governor’s office, legislators, and the Departments of Health and Human Services to push for changes to the current system.

Please visit the survey link here to submit a story.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) posted the final research plan on screening, referral, behavioral counseling, and preventive interventions for oral health. The draft Research Plan was posted on the USPSTF website for public comment in March 2021 and revisions were made.

Click here for more information.